4. Use a dishonest tax preparer

Former Macon, Ga. tax return preparer Willie C. Grant was sentenced in January 2013 to five years in prison after pleading guilty to filing false tax returns using the IDs of previous clients of a tax preparation business he had run out of his home. Former Silver City, New Mexico tax preparer Douglas Kuester was sentenced in November 2012 to four years in the federal pen after admitting that from 2007 through 2010 he filed false returns, some using the IDs of former clients.